Hearing set in Amish girls' kidnapping in NY

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - A woman accused along with her boyfriend of abducting two young Amish sisters from a farm stand and sexually abusing them is due in court for a preliminary hearing.

Nicole Vaisey, 25, was expected to be in court Thursday.

The couple from Hermon were arrested Friday, accused of abducting the 7-year-old and 12-year-old sisters from the family's rural farm stand near the Canadian border. The sisters turned up the next night at the door of a house 15 miles from their home.

St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain said last week that they were sexually abused and other charges are likely.

Vaisey's lawyer said she was the victim of an abusive relationship.

"She was in a master-slave relationship," with 39-year-old boyfriend Stephen Howells Jr., said attorney Bradford Riendeau. "I believe she's not as culpable as he is."

Howells waived his right to a preliminary hearing and his case will go straight to a grand jury. There was no answer late Tuesday at the county public defender's office, which is representing Howells.

The couple is in jail without bail.

The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of sexual abuse and is not naming the girls.

St. Lawrence County Sheriff Kevin Wells said the couple were prowling for easy targets and may have planned to abduct other children. He said the girls were able to provide details to investigators about their time in captivity.

The criminal defense aspect of our judicial process has transformed from the constitutional mandate of "ensuring the defendant receives a "fair trial" to " LETS TRY TO GET THEM OFF SCOTT FREE EVEN IF THEY KIDNAP, RAPE, MURDER, ETC" ... They literally see THAT as their duty,,its disgusting!!

What a crock of BS....I am sick to death of these low-life pieces of garbage. Throw both of them in jail FOREVER. They should never be set free....they are a threat to all children. How have we become such a screwed up society....to even have the audacity to offer that as an "excuse" takes HUGE balls.....

even as the slave in an S&M relationship, she always has the option of leaving and not committing a crime. unless she is being held at gunpoint, she has the right of refusal and leaving the MASTER... it is a paradox in S&M, that the slave is actually the one with all the control as they allow the MASTER to rule and stop it by leaving at any time.

The Democrat created "war on women" has created an environment whereby the biggest SCUM, ie lawyers and deadbeat women, will be able to "blame men" for everything,, even a woman's crimes against children. I wonder how soon before NOW is defending her, simply because she "claims" abuse turned her into a child abductor and rapist